We are living in the Information Age.
Information is made up of data that flows through the internet.
But the internet isn’t everywhere.
So Big Tech has created solutions.
Facebook had their internet planes: Aquila ✈️
Google has their internet balloons: Project Loon 🎈
They all wish to bring the internet to everyone — an admirable goal, which also happens to make good business sense.
But some are aiming much higher.
SpaceX and their satellite constellation: Starlink 💫
There are currently 4,857+ satellites in orbit.
SpaceX aims to launch 12,000 more, on their own.
Apple, former largest public company in the world, don’t seem to have a solution, but Boeing does — and they are talking to Apple.
A match made for the stars? 🍎✨
Satellites are expensive. 🛰
But not for long, for there are many others with satellite constellation ambitions: Virgin Orbit, Sky & Space Global, Telesat, OneWeb, Facebook again…
With greater competition comes efficiencies, thus satellites will become much cheaper.
But what about expensive satellite infrastructure such as ground stations? 📡
Enter Amazon’s enormous and ubiquitous cloud.
Where there is data, there is Amazon Web Services (AWS). ☁️
Large swathes of the internet rely on AWS: huge corporations, governments, online stores, apps…
And AWS is now providing more convenient access to ground stations.
With massive scale and convenience, access to satellite infrastructure will become much less expensive.
So introducing…
📰📆
SpacePods: Internet reimagined
Apple today introduced SpacePods, a constellation of satellites that will provide borderless internet access when you need it, wherever you are.
Combined with key partnerships, Apple has eliminated confusing roaming charges and will provide seamless access to a vast network of routers, towers, and geostationary SpacePods, enabled via the innovative SmartSwitch Chip in every Apple device.
📡 🌐 🛰
So we will all have access to the internet.
But not the same internet.
We are living in the Information Age.
Information is data.
Data is power.
And governments love controlling power.
So governments around the world regulate information.
Some to great effect — like China 🇨🇳
Some to a lesser extent — like the United States 🇺🇸
Some are preparing to do so in the future — like Russia 🇷🇺
Where there are satellites, there are ground stations.
And ground stations are built in countries controlled by governments.
So we won’t all experience the same internet.
Encryption can make data private, thus setting it free. 🔐
VPNs can tunnel through government firewalls.
Data can be end-to-end encrypted so that only the senders and recipients can decrypt it. So Let’s Encrypt it all.
But governments aren’t that incompetent.
And are they the good guys anyway?
Big Tech will eventually give up on difficult governments.
If not, tech employees will revolt.
If not, Millennials, the new majority, will push back.
But governments will initially have their way.
But they will also lose in the long run.
So encryption is here to stay.
Apple believes in encryption and privacy. 😶
They publicly stood against the FBI. 🕵️♀️
They believe privacy is a fundamental human right. 📜
Apple is known for selling hardware but they are also a large services company.
Currently services contribute 16% of total revenue — $10B large.
Currently there are around 850 million iCloud users — 170 million paying.
Apple will become a huge services company.
Their expensive devices providing access to their exclusive services.
So introducing…
📰📆📆
The future of communication: SpacePods 2
Apple today announced that for SpacePod subscribers, all data sent and received from devices will be end-to-end encrypted by default. Internet access will flow through Apple’s blazingly fast and secure Virtual Private Network so that it is you who decides who will be able to access your data.
📡 🔐 🛰
Everyone expects their data to be synced and accessible anywhere and at anytime.
email 📨
messages 📜
schedules 🗓
notes 📝
photos 🖼
videos 📹
music 🎶
bank accounts 🏧
investments 🏦
The flow of data relies on a huge and complicated network of undersea cables.
Commercial space travel is coming. 🚀
Sooner than you’d think.
First will be the companies, the wealthy, then anybody.
The opportunities in space are endless.
Satellites represent power in space.
With power there are governments and there are companies.
And space doesn’t have the best law.
Humanity will be addressing climate change.
And perhaps space has the answers.
Opportunity, power, and survival, will ensure that humanity’s expansion into and exploitation of space, will come sooner rather than later.
And there won’t be cables in space. Data will flow via a huge and complicated network of lasers beamed between satellites.
So introducing…
📰📆📆📆📆📆📆📆📆📆
SpacePods XV: A great expanse
Apple today announced that they will broaden their revolutionary SpacePods program to the entire solar system.
An unlimited, 100% solar-powered secure storage, paired with galactic internet access. Free from barriers. Free from surveillance. Encrypted end-to-end. Earth to space, back again, and beyond.
An internet that is near up to date wherever you are, enabled through constellations of satellites, servers, and relays.
Because you expect nothing less than your data, your messages, your memories, your life — to be available anywhere, anytime — synced between the Earth, Moon, and Mars.
🛰 🌌 🛰
Your data is tiny fragments of you. 👤
In isolation it’s not worth a lot, but in aggregation it is everything.
The amount of data you generate is immense and will only increase exponentially in time. 📈
You can’t opt out of its collection as you would have to opt out of society.
But you should be able to control who has access to it. 🔒
You can export your data and delete your account, but where will you store it so that it’s safe and secure — so that you can access, share and extract its value?
Big Tech have come under fire for mishandling and misusing their users’ data.
Which is concerning because that data is you. 👉👤
It is your:
likes 👍
comments ✍️
photos 🖼
videos 📹
work emails 📨👩💼
personal emails 📨👨💻
personal messages 📝
possessions 💎
finances 💵
investments 🏦
what you buy 💳
what you eat 🍄
where you go 🚶♀️
where you sleep 🛌
how well you sleep 😴
how healthy you are 👩⚕️
how sick you are 🤮
how sick you can be ♋
who your ancestors were 👵
who your family is 👨👧👩👦👨👩👧👦 👩👩👧👦 👨👨👧👦
who your friends are 👯♂️
who your enemies are ⚔️
who you dislike 🙅♀️
who you hate 🔪
who you love 💓
what you look like 👀
what you sound like 🗣
the way you move 🧗♀️
your thoughts 💭
your secrets 🤫
your past ⌛️
your future ⏳
And that data will be around in some form forever.
And with enough of that data, you and others will be able to recreate You.
👤👤👤👤👤
Deep Fake technology can create audio and video of a person saying and doing anything, indiscernible from reality.
AI can write fake news and fiction so convincing that its creators refuse to release it due to its potential misuse.
Algorithms can generate endless fake people in endless different styles.
And people will find it increasingly more difficult to discern fact from fiction.
So you should be the one to decide who can recreate you and the accuracy of that creation.
You should be able to decide who has access to your:
- Box of memories that are worth nothing but mean the world.
- Diaries that you intend on passing down to your children.
- Scribbles, sketches, illustrations, jokes, stories, poems, songs.
- Dreams, wisdom, ideas, plans fulfilled, plans unfulfilled, emotions expressed, emotions hidden.
So who do you entrust with your data?
Who will have control of your data when you die? ⚰️
Will you trade your data, and the rights to that data, in return for free services? 🆓
Or will you entrust your data to those who have decided to take a stand? 🙅♂️
Those who respect your privacy and your rights to your data.
Those who appreciate its value to you.
That it is you.
Finally introducing…
📰⏳📆⌛️📆⏳📆⌛️📆⏳📰
SpacePods: Legacy
You opted for privacy because it matters to you. But you also valued the data you generated — your behaviour, your thoughts, your history — and how it forms a genuine version of You.
Because you trusted us with your data, it’s a You that you can leave to future generations. A time capsule. Not a You corrupted by decades of brokering, tinkering, and unreliable storage.
And, or if you choose — as humanity spreads across the galaxy — a You that can live on in your place, a companion to others into the great unknown.
Then finally — as is your unalienable human right — to conclude your contract with us. To confirm your wish to be released from memory, from history, to fade over time like all humans should, and to be cast adrift like space dust — tiny fragments, among the stars.
🌠 👁🗨 🌌
#NearFarTimes is an experiment that hopes to amuse, rattle, and inspire by speculating on a near far future.
There are now two of these. If you liked this one, feel free to check out the first, “Milkmen are back but they now carry razor blades” → here.
And no I’m not an Apple fanboi mega acolyte. Please don’t @ me. Or do. Feedback and comments are always welcome.
Thanks for your time!
